Term Report

TERM REPORT Business Research Methods

MOBILE PHONE BANKING

SUBMITTED TO:

MR. AHMED GHIAS BUSINESS RESEARCH METHODS

PREPARED BY: SHEHZAD S. RAJWANI MEN2200692

JUNE 17, 2008

DEDICATION This report is dedicated to HIMS that provided us with a conducive environment and opportunity to excel in our resolve for formulating this report. Dedication is also made to our beloved parents for their selfless prayers and to our friends without whose love and support we would not have achieved all this. And to our teacher, Mr. Ahmed Ghias for his kind guidance.

Preface As students of Business Research Methods (BRM) Course for MBA degree program, we have been asked to prepare an extensive report in the form of Individual Research Proposal as part of our term assignment. We were given the choice to pick from various topics or case scenarios and prepare our business research proposal, keeping in mind the concepts that we learned during our course it was important for us to make sure that our report should reflect that we understood the requirements of preparing a research proposal. The basic ideology of the report is to evaluate the depth of application of BRM functions and make valuable inferences for a marketing problem. This report is a compulsory requirement for this course and our deadline to submit the report was 14th session.

Acknowledgement

The HIMS Group of students feels greatly indebted to all who helped us in our marketing research project. In the course of completion of this report we would like to extend our heartiest thanks and obligations to people instrumental in providing us the opportunity to gain access to the organizations that we went to and interact. We feel honoured to acknowledge our Instructor, Mr. Ahmed Ghias, HIMS City Campus, whose valuable guidance went a long way in our resolve to accomplish the research project. We also feel obligated in acknowledging HIMS City Campus library staff for providing us with experienced assistance in acquiring valuable information from their sources. We are also indebted to all our well wishers, colleagues and friends who extended their help selflessly.

Executive Summary This report has been to accomplish the obligation of Business Research Methods course taught by our respectable faculty Mr. Ahmed Ghias. Basically it is a Research Proposal put in front of the management of a leading commercial bank who is interested in exploring the avenue of using Mobile Phone technology and integrating it with basic banking functions to realize maximum market coverage and increased profitability. If the management accepts the Research Proposal then at the end of the successful completion of this research project the final report would be able to present the findings on how the normal Pakistani consumer views m-banking, using results of an e-survey of 200 individuals in Karachi. The research will be conducted in public, residential and corporate areas of Karachi.

Problem Identification A bank wants to introduce mobile phone banking solution in Karachi, Pakistan. It wants to conduct a research on how many people in Karachi are interested in availing mobile banking solution. The research is imperative as the same will help increase customer base by offering innovative Mobile Banking Services. The following is what the Bank is looking for: 15) Customers inclination towards mobile banking services / how large is the potential market. 16) Security concerns regarding mobile banking. 17) Do existing mobile companies have the required infrastructure to support such services?

Research Objectives The objectives of the bank are as follows: 18) Identify the potential demand for mobile banking. 19) Identify the primary target market.

Literature Review Banking through mobile phones has been common in developed countries for years. But

the real potential of “m-banking” may be to make basic financial services more accessible to millions of people across the world. In early 2006, the mobile phone became the first communications technology to have more users in developing countries than in developed ones. More than 800 million mobile phones were sold in developing countries in the past three years according to GSM Association 2006. As mobile phone usage expands, so do opportunities for bank to increase their customer base. With m-banking, people no longer need to use scarce time and financial resources to travel to bank branches. And since m-banking transactions cost far less to process than transactions at an automated teller machine (ATM) or branch, banks can make a profit handling even small money transfers and payments.

Need for Research Since some of the information related to our problem is known while available alternatives for decision making are unclear. Therefore, careful scrutiny suggests that our problem lies somewhere between the ‘Certain’ and ‘Uncertain’ continuum as depicted below. Hence, marketing research would be required to explore further.

Research Methodology It is foremost to define the action plan for this research project keeping in view the stages of research process. After ascertaining our nature of problem and the need to perform a research, we would conduct an exploratory research to further authenticate our problem and research objectives. Quantitative research design will be selected for which questionnaire will be prepared for collection of data. Sample would be defined keeping in view the scope of our research and concerned people will be approached for data collection. Finally data processing and analysis will be followed by conclusion and recommendations in form of report and presentation on our research.

Research Design: E-Survey Under the prevailing state of our problem and in addition to the fact that time was of the essence to us, e-survey was considered the best suited option.

A questionnaire outline will be prepared and floated to randomly picked study subjects in Karachi.

Designing of Questionnaire Keeping in mind our identified problem and research objectives, the questionnaire was designed. Due emphasis was made over elements of relevancy, accuracy and simplicity. Questionnaire designed is placed at Annexure.

Shortcomings We would use e-survey methodology, we created our questionnaire on a website and then generated an email to people we know. The results will be directly uploaded to the website; it would provide the functionality of data analysis and give reports in Cross Tabulation format. Following are the shortcomings of the Methodology. 20) We used this method due to the time constraint. 21) The field work was missing, so the confidence level on the collected data was low. 22) The analysis was compiled and processed by the website we used [www.surveymonkey.com], and you can join this website for free.

Limitations The following limitations were observed: 23) Females were less welcome to the research resulting in a low percentage of input from females. 24) A high majority of the participant did not disclose their salary hence an analysis with respect to salary cannot be effectively done. Hence respective analysis is being dropped from the findings.

Budget Budgets Items

Rate

Total Days

Amount

1. Research director

Rs. 3,000

10 Days

Rs. 30,000

2. Associates (2)

Rs. 1,500

10 Days

Rs. 30,000

A Salaries

Subtotal

Rs 60,000

B Other Cost 4. Travel

Rs 2,000

5. Office Supplies

Rs 1,000

6. Telephone / Mobile

Rs 3,000

Subtotal

Rs 6,000

C Total of Direct Costs

Rs 66,000

D Total Funding Required

Rs 66,000

Bibliography Books: -

Business Research Methods, William G. Zikmund, 7e

Internet: http://www.google.com http://en.wikipedia.org http://www.surveymonkey.com

Annexure -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Note: The following questionnaire is being used for an academic research. All information from the questionnaire will solely be utilized for academic purposes. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------25) How interested are you in using the mobile phone for your financial management (including banking account/ credit card)?

□ □ □ □

Very Interested Interested Not so Interested Not interested or aware

Note: If you have selected any of the last two choices please fill in your personal information at the end of questionnaire.

26) What, in your opinion, is the main advantage of using mobile phone for financial management? (single choice)

□ □ □ □ □ □ □

It is efficient way to keep me updated with my account activities It saves me time can access banking service anytime anywhere It is easy to manage my banking/credit card records It saves paper Nothing Other (please specify :……………………………………………)

27) What, in your opinion, is the main disadvantage of using mobile phone for financial management? (single choice)

□ □ □ □ □

It has security risks/ concerns It is complicated It is too expensive Nothing Other (please specify:……………………………………………)

28) What could in your opinion, make Mobile Banking more attractive (single choice)

□ □ □ □

Mobile devices with bigger display Better input devices (e.g. an external keyboard for mobile phones) Higher speed of data transmission Cheaper costs of utilisation

□

Other (please specify: ……………………………………….…..)

29) Which of the following mediums of Mobile Banking would you prefer to use? (multiple choices possible)

□ SMS □ Internet access via in-built, standard browser (as in Online Banking with PC) □ Client software, installable on the mobile device (as in Home Banking with PC) □ No preference 30) Which of the following mobile banking services are you currently using? (multiple choices possible)

□ □ □ □ □

SMS with account information (e.g., current balance, transaction notification) SMS without account infomation (e.g., NAV/ foreign exchange or interest rate) SMS for transactions (e.g. Fund Transfer, Bill Payments) Other (please specify ………………………………………………………….) None

How much monthly fee (in rupees) would you be willing to pay for the services you selected above with a monthly fees structure □ Less than 10

□ □ □ □ □

11 to 25 26 to 50 51 to 100 Above 100 None

31) Which mobile operator are you currently using? (Single choice, select the main one if more than two)

□ □ □ □ □ □

Warid Telenor U-fone Paktel Mobilink Don’t have a mobile phone

32) What’s the average amount of your mobile phone bill/expense every month (including SMS delivery fee and other value-added service charges)?

□ □

Below Rs.100 Rs.101 to Rs.300

□ □ □ □ □ □

Rs.301 to Rs.500 Rs.501 to Rs.700 Rs.701 to Rs.1000 Rs.1001 to Rs.1500 Rs.1501 to Rs.2000 Rs.2000 and above

Personal Information 33) Age

□ □ □ □ □ □ □ □

Below 18 18-24 25-29 30-34 35-39 40-44 45-49 50 & above

34) Gender

□ □

Male

□ □ □ □

Owner

Female 35) Occupation Level High level Management Middle Level Management Entry Level Management

□ □ □ □

Professional (e.g. doctor/lawyer/engineer) Labour Unemployed

Others 36) Industry

□ □ □

IT Communication Finance

□ □ □ □ □ □

Services Manufacturing Military/Government/Education Student Housewife Others

37) Marital Status

□ □ □ □

Single Married, no children Married, with children Others

38) Monthly income in rupees

□ □ □ □ □ □ □

Below 20,000 20,000 to 39,999 40,000 to 59,999 60,000 to 79,999 80,000 to 99,999 100,000 and above Do not want to disclose.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Thank you for your contribution. If you wish to be further informed about this research, kindly enter your name and email address in the space below: Name: _____________________________________ Email: _____________________________________ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------